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Media captionItalian Navy captain Francesco Iavazzo says he shouted to the migrants to sit down and stay still

On Wednesday, Italian Navy rescuers pulled 562 survivors from the sea in a separate incident. The survivors were also taken to Lampedusa, a tiny island near the North African coast that has been overwhelmed by boatloads of migrants in recent years.

Aid agencies say the sea crossing between Libya and Italy has become the main route for migrants since an EU deal with Turkey in March sharply reduced the flow of migrants across the Aegean to Greece.

Up to 30 people were feared dead when another boat capsized off the Libyan coast on Thursday.

Some 38,000 migrants have arrived on Italian territory since the start of the year, and 5,700 have been unaccompanied minors. The number of arrivals is slightly down on the same period last year.